Drone industry news has recently been filled with articles relating to DJI – drones such as the Phantom 4 and Spark have been removed from the DJI store entirely while other drones such as a Mavic 2 Pro are available but at pointedly higher prices. Many people are left wondering what is happening.

Starting with the increase in pricing, let’s hear it straight from DJI. Per an article published by The Verge, a DJI spokesperson stated the following:

“Due to the recent increase in tariffs, DJI has updated pricing for its products in the United States. We take many factors into account when recommending retail prices in different countries around the world, including tariff applications, tax rates and currency exchange fluctuations,” a DJI spokesperson tells The Verge. “We follow all applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate and will continue to work toward making drone and handheld products more accessible to the world while supporting the many existing customers that use DJI technology daily.”

— The Verge

It seems DJI is raising their prices due to the trade tariffs taking effect. While other companies such as Apple are absorbing most of the tariff costs, so they don’t impact their end customers, DJI is instead passing along the extra cost to their end customers.

DJI has also chosen to raise the prices of their Care Refresh program by 15%.

Moving on to what drones are still available, we are turning to the DJI website. Per the DJI website:

Spark All Series | Removed from the website

Air | Some versions are available (price increase!)

Mavic Pro Platinum | Available on the website

Mavic 2 Pro | Available on the website (price increase!)

Mavic 2 Zoom | Out of stock

Phantom 4 All Series | Removed from the website

Inspire 2 | Some versions are available

DJI may still be selling accessories from for all product lines.

How does this affect the drone repair industry and Fortress UAV?

The increase in prices is also affecting drone service providers and most parts are sourced directly from DJI. Thus, it will most likely not only result in an increase in cost for purchasing full drones and parts, but an increase in costs for drone services such as repair and maintenance.